The reality is that the United States has no energy policy. While the candidates will debate over energy – as candidates may have done over 40 years – the average person has been hammered. During the 40 years since the first oil crisis hit, the price of gasoline at the pump has increased an average of 7 percent per year. From 1999 to present, the price of crude oil per barrel has increased by 650 percent. In spite of this increase, oil accounts for roughly 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption. Until recently, the U.S. imported over half of the oil it consumed. With that importation comes many geopolitical strings. Yet, there has been no meaningful effort by the government to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The U.S. and Canada have abundant supplies of natural gas. By one account, if all automobiles were converted to natural gas, these supplies would last as long as 200 years. Then, there is coal. Similarly, there are adequate supplies of coal. Now, most individuals will think “dirty” when they hear “coal.” But, for well over 100 years, coal has been gasified. That is, converting coal into natural gas. Currently, natural gas is about one-third the price of crude oil on a per unit energy basis.

Beyond mere price, there are substantial environmental benefits in a switch from crude oil to natural gas. Estimates are that natural gas produces 90 percent fewer pollutants than crude oil.

In perspective, there are adequate domestic supplies of energy. It is just a matter of converting to those sources. Of course, going forward, new car engines would simply be designed to operate on natural gas. Some sources put the cost to convert the average car from gasoline to natural gas at about $1500 to $2000. Given the lower per unit energy of natural gas, this expense would be recouped relatively quickly. The big challenge is distribution. The U.S. would need to build out its infrastructure. The good news is that this infrastructure is in place in the western states already. But, our elected leaders seem to be sitting by idly while the average person deals with sky-high prices at the pump.